MASS not available for R 4.3.3???

[randyzwitch]

I can understand the frustration @lhunsicker.

@lhunsicker

Would it be possible to modify install.programs() to look automatically for a version of a package appropriate for the running version of R?

Unfortunately, this is a difficult problem to solve, as Posit can't really modify the underlying R language (which is where install.packages is coming from). Assuming you're using RStudio, we're just providing a GUI for generating those R functions, we don't control how they behave.

So when it returns Warning in install.packages : package ‘MASS’ is not available for this version of R, I don't think there is a good way for us to 'hijack' the error message to add "...but try Matrix 1.6-5.

One thing you might try is opening a thread on the R mailing lists and see if they have any recommendations of where this type of core language feature request might be appropriate.

Best,
Randy